Just a check-up? Bird acts as dentist to clean giraffe’s teeth

How does a giraffe clean its teeth?
It may sound like the start of a poor Christmas cracker joke but a wildlife photographer may have just found the answer.
It appears some birds seemingly bored with flying around 24/7 and chilling out on tree branches have
something of a side business cleaning the teeth of giraffes.
They probably don’t do fillings or teeth whitening services but they will give your teeth a thorough clean if you ever find yourself stuck in the wilds of Tanzania without a toothbrush.
Wildlife photographer Yulia Sundukova captured the amazing set of images showing a red-billed oxpecker acting as a dentist and picking food out of the teeth of a grumpy giraffe.
The 36-year-old, from Moscow, Russia, took the photos on a trip to Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area in October.
"It was so funny to witness - everything about it was like a trip to the dentist," she explained.
"The bird flew up and started picking food from the giraffe's teeth and stuck at it even as the giraffe stood there looking really grumpy and impatient.
"The funniest thing about it was the way the giraffe was standing, it reminded me of how people behave when they're at the dentist - it just wanted the visit to end as soon as possible."
She added: "It's an amazing relationship - the birds pick out food from their teeth and they're always following big animals like buffalos, giraffes, antelopes and others.
"They help each other out - the birds get nice food like ticks and larva while the giraffes get nice healthy teeth.
"The birds can even warn them about danger."